Robinson Crusoe and Faith

One of the main themes of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe without a doubt is faith and christianity. The progress of Robinson’s improving his religion and studying it is declared through the whole novel. When wanting to start his voyage on the sea and explaining this dream of his to his parents Robinson heards from his father that he might never gain the ‘blessings of the God’if he does not obey to the undoubtedly much more comfortable way of living as a middle class rather than an adventurist. Our protagonist giving up to his rebellious character goes on with his journey anyway. At the beginning he does not seem to remember God except in the exact moments where he is in danger for instance surviving his first shipwreck and other storms he faces on the island, symbolizing human nature’s tendency to overlook to danger when in safe space. Robinson’s deepening of spiritual journey starts with a dream he had after several years, including savages and a victim,he takes this as a sign to being aware of the potential dangers and repenting.Immediately after he starts studying one of the bibles out of three like a workbook and after that he always has this figure to turn to, talk to and complain to, making sense of everything that happened and might happen associating them with fate and divine intervention. With the help of the Bible Robinson starts immensely reflecting on his sinful actions and now he never forgets stating his thankfulness to God and i quote ‘I humbly gave God thanks, wondering how this boat escaped making at once an end of my unhappy life in so many instances..’and he relates his appreciation and being able to live on the island for so many years without getting devoured by savages to God’s protection.Robinson’s own religous presentation by some relates to biblical stories for insatnce that of ‘Parable of the Prodigal Son’, a story of a younger, impatient and greedy son asking his father for his inheritance and betraying it by using it all ending up homeless and destitute  but at the end he is welcomed by his father and brother.In addition Crusoe compares himself to a character from Old Testament called ‘Job’ who overcame his all sufferance but never lost his faith just as Robinson did. After absorbing all the scriptures Robinson is eager to share this with his servant Friday, after teaching him English he goes for religous education trying to convert him and successfully does so too. In conclusion, Daniel Defoe perfectly discloses Robinson as a man of Christianity and the center of his worldview which is devotion to God and fate.